Iraqi forces 'make further gains' against ISIL in Mosul

Iraqi forces have retaken two more neighbourhoods in western Mosul, militarycommanders have said, as fighting intensifies amid a US-backed offensive to recapture ISIL's last urban stronghold in the country.

An officer with federal police forces also deployed in west Mosul confirmed that the neighbourhood, which lies just west of the Old City, had been retaken from ISIL.

The Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against the group nationwide said the Nasr neighbourhood was also retaken on Thursday.

The head of Iraq's federal police, Raed Shakir Jawdat, also said in a statement that Iraqi forces had killed a senior ISIL operative, who had been in charge of chemical weapons for the group in Mosul, in a guided missile strike in the Zanjili neighbourhood.

The largest city in northern Iraq, Mosul was captured by ISIL in mid-2014.

Backed by the US-led coalition, a coalition of Iraqi forces launched a huge operation, their largest in years, in mid-October last year to retake Mosul.

They retook the side of the city that lies east of the Tigris river in January and launched a push on remaining ISIL fighters in western Mosul, which is more densely populated and has seen fierce fighting.

On the west bank, Iraqi forces control southern neighbourhoods and are slowly surrounding the Old City, whose narrow streets are expected to make federal operations very difficult.

Residents who managed to escape from the Old City say that there is almost nothing to eat but flour mixed with water and boiled wheat grain.